The Whole Erk Catalogue Tales of a Geek Abroad

I have one word to describe the commencement of the new school year in Japan: Ceremonial.

On the first day back to school, there was a formal ceremony welcoming the new 3rd and 2nd years back to school, introducing the new teachers, homerooms, and school club teachers, and a welcome speech from our new principal (the old principal, who was a pretty good friend of mine, is still in town at Natori City Hall). School was out early for the students, although the teachers stayed around for mostly normal hours (well, they all went home when they were supposed to instead of staying until 9 pm).

The second day back was a more formal ceremony introducing the new first years. It was like the graduation ceremony in reverse. The students' parents were all there, and almost forty dignitaries from the elementary schools, city hall, local businesses, and parents councils and things. Almost forty dignitaries, for a class of 169 students. There was like one dignitary per five students! But I digress. First there was a series of speeches, followed by a roll call for every single student present, followed by another series of speeches, followed by a roll call of all the dignitaries where every dignitary said a sentence or two (ie. congratulations, good luck in icchu), followed by ANOTHER series of speeches. It was the most boring ceremony I have ever sat through. Even graduation for the 3rd years was more interesting.

Then, today, we had another ceremony, although this one was not formal. The 2nd and 3rd years introduced the school committees and clubs to the 1st year, and every club put on a brief presentation of their skills, with varying degrees of success. The boys' basketball team charged the net at the back of the gym, but only two of the thirteen players managed to get a basket... they blamed low enrollment this year on their poor performance. The ping pong club didn't do any performance... they didn't even wear their club uniforms, and apparently they got in trouble for their lackluster attitude. For the most part though, the club presentations were quite funny and enthusiastic. My favourite part was the introduction of the school rules, which were presented as a sketch. A sketch about a number of famous characters from various well known anime who were all going to school together at icchu. And were joined by a new student, a totally slutted-up girl from tokyo. They proceeded to rag on her about her lack of knowledge of basic school etiquette until she fell in line, which happened very quickly. It was cute, the costumes were fantastic. Sadly, my camera batteries died before I got any pictures.

At least today's ceremony was fun. And the spring is treating me well: the flowers are out and the sun is shining, and today I had a grand time wandering around visiting with my students while they went about their club activities, and meeting the new first years. My visit to the art club turned into a half-hour long lesson on phonics, which was pretty cool because the students initiated it and had a lot of fun learning it. That's the point of hanging out with them, besides just getting to know my kids better.

Anyway, it's ten oclock and I need to get to bed early for a change.